Feb 09, 06
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SFU vs. UBC
I'm planing on going back to school and getting my BA and move on into teaching elementry/highschool.
What I do know is I want to do a uni transfer program through Cap Collage, but before I figure out my requirements I need to deside what Uni I want to move onto. So im asking if any current/passed students could fill me in and comment comparing the uni's. Especialy anyone who has ever been involved with the teaching programs. I just want to get an idea and hear diffrent students opinions. thanx! 
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Feb 09, 06
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off the top of my head i can think of 8 people i know that did 2 years at cap with a transfer program and every single one of them went on to UBC and they all love it there. although i can't really give much feed-back, i do know that they all went into heavy course loads and are very happy with what they obtained from UBC.
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Feb 09, 06
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Rhia,
I don't know much about the teaching programs, but I'd rather not go to school at all if I had to go to SFU (aka Jail on the hill). It rains there more than any other place in all of BC I swear. UBC on the other hand, ocean side campus - sure it's cold in winter but just to die for in summer, spring and autumn. And I'll hopefully be going back FT in the next year to get my BComm.
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Feb 09, 06
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My experience at SFU is that it's generally a commuter school. It operates M-F between the hours of 8am to 4pm, with little activity surrounding it. Works great if you have a life outside school.
The actual campus can go two ways with people. Some find it really neat, some find it horridly depressing. That being said, the number of times people site the "highest suicide rate in canada" statistic (where I usually site the "80% of statistics are made up on the spot" statistic right after) far supercedes the number of suicides I heard about in my 3 years there (btw, that number is one). The cool thing about SFU is that you get all nostalgic every time you see the old X-Files FBI Headquarters, or watch The Sixth Day. As for programs, I was always told out of High School that if you wanted to do Arts, go to SFU, if you want Sciences, go to UBC. UBC being a post-grad centered uni, you'll find research-based programs are the ones that are touted the more important. SFU being a leftist hippy school, BAs seem to be what they churn out best (insert "Would you like fries with that" joke here). The neat thing about SFU is that you can really take as long as you freaking want to finish up your degree, granted that you've at least declared _a_ major (but don't worry, you can always change that). I'm guessing you're not really looking to be a professional student though so that might be moot. Athletic programs are pretty big at SFU, or at least they were when I was their and they competed against american schools in the NAIA. They've since joined the Canadian College league (I'm blanking on their name) after learning that they wouldn't be allowed to apply for the NCAA, so their sports focus may have gone down. At any rate, they still have a stellar kinesiology program.
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Feb 09, 06
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^Thanx guys!
Thats some great info to know about and look into. For teaching I probly plan on focusing on Special Ed, PE, Arts and maybe buisness since I feel its a great thing to have no matter what career your in. Im not an academic person at all. Infact I beleive my councelor and resorce teacher from Highschool sugested SFU would be better and more understanding since im labled 'LD' and could probly get more help at SFU than UBC. My plan is to take my time on my teaching BA since I already have my diploma in Special Ed and want to continue working in the schools as well. My hope was to work 20 hours in my school job and then take 1-3 night/late afternoon corses a week. Or is this no where near possible? Location isnt something Im really looking at. For now im living in North Van so Cap is perfect. However I do plan on moving out to a DT location in the future. Yet I would rather pick a better suited uni schooling wise than comfort wise.
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Feb 09, 06
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Rhia,
I was in the exact position you're in right now only a few years ago. I did a lot of my early post-sec. courses at Cap College, then transferred to SFU to finish my BA. I was living in North Van, and found that driving to SFU was a breeze, and the bus wasn't too bad either if I needed to take it. The PDP course (teacher training) at SFU is considered (apparently) a slightly better program than UBC's, but is also a little tougher to get into. Make sure that you have a lot of volunteer experience, but your time as an SEA is definitely an in. I found the program amazing at SFU, and the teachers were great. I did a PE focus, but received my B.Ed. in Early Childhood Education, which meant I got to do a lot of Art, Reading, etc. As for SFU being depressing? It's all how you look at it. I loved it up there. It's like a trippy LSD flashback, with all the bizarre architecture. The views are amazing, and it still has a small school feel. I just find UBC overwhelming. Thats my two-bits. You can message me if you have any questions!
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Feb 10, 06
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Quote:
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Feb 10, 06
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good post Rhia. im in the same position right now, but thinking about doing a sport science diploma at Dougie or Langera and then transferring to ??. i am super interesting in early childhood ed. and special needs myself, so please let me know what you come up with ok : )
_mike
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Feb 10, 06
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^thanx I was hoping for you to reply :)
I hate to brag, but with over 10 years working in daycare and working now into the future as an SEA I know im a gold star when it comes to applying for the PDP program. Just as long as I keep my grades up to standard. Another thing im curiouse about is what kind of degrees are more desirable or in need with the schools? (im thinking elementry intermediate level) I know that special ed and french are in the top two most in need for the Vancouver district... but im also curiouse what most of the other new teachers are taking and whats harder/easyer to get hired with?
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Feb 10, 06
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I enjoy SFU...that's why I've been up there/here for so freeeeaaaakin' long....lol :sick:
No, but in all seriousness...the PDP program at SFU is supposed to be awesome. You should ask Maryah (Jingles)...I believe she is/was in the program. *Jen*
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Feb 10, 06
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^Hoping shell reply too ;)
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Ive been waiting for a guy to force into this :p You know mike, If you have about 2 years experince with kids who have special needs... you could probly apply and get hired as an SEA in almost any district. Thats right, WITH OUT THE 1-2 year corse! Not only are the schools in need of young up beat ppl to work with kids who have special needs, but MALES are in high demand and never taken for granted. My daycare has lost almost every good male staff now to the schools. Funny enough 3 of the males got hired this sept with out the corse while 2 female staff who have more experince/knowlege are taking the corse at langara... go figure. You sound like me, I learned fast that working with kids was the way to go. I love my job and I love the kids. Working in a school makes things much more organized, plesent, uinon doesnt allow bullshit, and you get paid better than almost any other job working with kids :D Personaly I like the older kids than the wee tots. Early child hood educaters are way under paid sadly. Academicly its not intresting enough for me either. However go with what your intrested in. Another career path im looking at is to become a resorce teacher (incharge of all IEP's, programs, networking etc dealing with whatever groups of special needs kids given) And if you want to go further there are also Ocupational therapist, Physio therapist, Councalor, Music Therapy, Speach and Language therapist... are all other areas of teaching and specialist who work wtih kids in the schools/home/comunity. Although some of those require your masters . Again I dont like how I have to plan if I want to go with elementry or highschool right now and pick my choice of uni :/ Last edited by Ree Fresh; Feb 10, 06 at 01:09 AM.
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Feb 10, 06
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yeah i think i would enjoy a grade 1/2 the most. still young, eager, and not tainted(too much) by peer pressure and other forces that lead kids towards negativity.
i have many co-workerswho have done this same thing, progressed into teaching, and from what they tell me Math andfrench are right atthe top as far as advantages to getting a good job in the Lower Mainland. im not much of a french guy, and me and math had a falling out back in grade 12, so im thinking a specialization in special needs would be a good help. ??? who knows though. it may change by the time i am ready to move into a classroom. i think my position right now at the pool is good as far as experience is concerned. i have done lots of work with kids of all aptitudes, and think i have learned a lot about, well, learning. im excited to put it to use! now i just need ot figure my shit out.
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Feb 10, 06
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I'm at Douglas also in the University Transfer Program.... Pretty Soon the time will come when I'll have to transfer to UBC or SFU.... personally my number one choice is UBC.... If Im gonna have to work my ass off at university I might as well be at a location that I like(sorry if I'm out of line...but I dont think I am).....I want to live in the vanvouver area and being by the ocean would help me be happier hence make me a better student... haha......
School is hard.... all the time I want to stop and work full time and live on my own but i cant... cause i wont.... I'm getting off toppic... Anyways... best of luck to everyone who is attending or going to be attending school...
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Jul 20, 06
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Just searched this thread.
I was gonna respond to it a few months ago when it came up but didn't cause my tranfser was still pending. I'm a recent transfer student from SFU to UBC. If you have a choice between the two and they both equally provide you with what you need in terms of the education you want, then I would definitely recommend the latter aka UBC... Overall I'm sure there probably isn't much difference in the quality of education... In the end it's really the effort that you put into your education that's going to determine what you get from it. BUT... Aesthetically, it's a beautiful campus and when you go there you feel like you're really AT a university. It's located in a beautiful part of Vancouver and just commuting there is worth it. Even the buildings on campus are breathtaking. You'd think it wouldn't matter, but if you're going to spend a long time at any institution you will wanna make sure you like your surrounding environment, esp. the campus life (many say the campus life at UBC is better). In my 3 years at SFU I found students there to be a little bit standoffish and more to themselves. Many people seemed to have old connections to each other from local highschools and tended to stick to one another. SFU generally felt more like a local community.. wheras UBC feels more like an international community and my first month here people have been far friendlier than I have ever experienced in the last 3 years at SFU. The most frustrating thing at SFU was the fact that class limits were small and there weren't many seats available, so come registration time I could NEVER get the courses that I wanted. There was always frustration and ambiguity surrounding whether I would get into the class that I've been waitlisted for. Many students in my department were not happy with the fact that they were into their last year and their graduation was about to be delayed because they could not get into the last required course for their program. At UBC, I find class sizes to be larger and that there is a wider variety of courses offered. I think there is also greater fluidity in taking courses from departments outside of your own at UBC. At SFU, probably because class sizes/limits are smaller and due to departmental restrictions, it's a lot harder for an arts student for example to take a visual arts course. At UBC, as long as you have the requisites there is greater opportunity to try out different faculties. I notice a lot more diversity at UBC. SFU seems very... local. I think the more lenient language requirements at SFU was an attractive quality for a lot of second language students. I know that SFU has only recently made their language requirements a little tougher, but only long after UBC had already implemented these prerequisites. I notice that it's generally a lot stricter to get into UBC, which is a bad thing for those who want to get in, but probably a better thing for the school's reputation as a whole. I generally feel like UBC runs their "business" better and has their shit together a little better. There are certain procedural aspects that I found a lot easier at UBC than SFU. SFU also lacks a lot of the departments that UBC offers (law, nursing..etc) Last edited by yoko*; Jul 20, 06 at 11:00 PM.
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Jul 20, 06
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Then again I've been working full time and have not been certain as to what I wanted to do with my education until now. But one of the advatanges to going to SFU as an arts student is that they offer a lot of their courses through DISTANCE EDUCATION. I love taking a class, getting a full 4 credits for it and not having to spend a single day IN class. Distance education is a great life saver for those who work full time. I was doing the working 40-50 hours per week slash full time student thing for a while, so it was definitely helpful. Another neat thing about SFU is that you're able to re-take up to 5 courses and they will consider your BETTER mark as counting towards your CGPA. At UBC there is no point in re-taking a course because they will take the average of both of your grades. So if you do WORSE the second time, they'll just average out your bad mark and your WORSE mark, which has no advantage to anyone. Ohhhh. And SFU is awesome because it's open 24 hours. They've also just finished building their new gym too. It's about time! ---------------- OH, last thing. The SFU library does NOT compare to the UBC library. It sucks ass when you're trying to write a term paper but all the books that you need are loaned out. Whenever I needed term paper books I always ended up going to UBC to do an inter-library loan. UBC has a greater selection and more quantities of it. Last edited by yoko*; Jul 20, 06 at 10:57 PM.
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Jul 21, 06
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Further to the arguments already made it seems that UBC also has a better brand name then SFU, everyone i meet or interveiw with say somehting like 'oh, UBC is a good school.' or something to that effect. It probably has to do with UBC's concentration on post graduate studies and the more intense competition to get into the school.
UBC also has more infrastructure, so if you're looking for something for a research project you have I think 7 or 8 libraries to find it in, because the breadth and depth of the faculties at UBC is huge. Even after graduation i was still finding things out about UBC that I never knew existed. Last edited by SEAN!; Jul 21, 06 at 01:05 PM.
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Jul 21, 06
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I like SFU.....everyone talks about it being depressing but I like it up on the mountain....and I never really remember an unusual amount of rain. It's fairly close to anything and is easy to get to. UBC is like 54378025709 hours away if you're commuting. I cant really say anything about the education-side of UBC but I know it's a lot harder to get in there too.
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Jul 21, 06
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But with a an area of study like political science.. i doubt there is much difference between UBC and SFU. That's just an assumption though.. A lot of profs that teach at UBC also teach at SFU. But again, that's just an assumption.
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Jul 21, 06
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UBC is definitely far if you don't live central to Vancouver... BUT, there are actually far more busses which go to UBC than there are those that go to SFU, and at least the main campus is in a more central area. I do miss being able to wake up 30 mins before class and still getting to school on time though :(
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Jul 23, 06
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A topic I'm truely qualified to comment on! I did an undergrad at UBC and am finishing up grad work at SFU.
Yoko has taken the vast majority of my thunder, but allow me to be frank: UBC is a better school. In every way...except one. I've seen it highlighted in this thread that UBC has better 'post-grad' programs. I'd argue differently. There's no doubt that UBC is a research university, and the projects addressed out there are likely more important (to society?) than what's going on at SFU. And if you were doing work in those fields, yes, UBC is a better choice. This has been hinted at before, but SFU has a long history of activism and alternative political sentiment. It used to be the site of love-ins, labour mobilization and sometimes violent demonstration. SFU was founded on the principle that the province already had a 'traditional university' (UBC), and this new university was an experiment in alternatives. This sentiment is reflected, for better or for worse, in its architecture.The fact that SFU is no longer a hotbed of activism is lamented continually in the student newspaper. It is a commuter university and, like most people today, few manage to dislodge their ipod ear peices to find out what's going on at SFU or the world. I think a lot of faculty at SFU were attracted to the school for its (forgotten) radicalism, and from what I understand, profs at SFU are engaged in more out-there research. The graduate programs at SFU are more 'out-there' too, many of which UBC would never even contemplate. That's a good thing imo. As for Education, I've heard SFU has a better program. Anyone taking Geog. 327 this fall?
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